Dawn

Tim Lebbon has put together a great pair of books. Dawn along with Dusk is as good as the best, buy these two and enjoy a very very good read..

Dawn is a good book. Not great, but good. It picks up right where Dusk left off with Kosar and the gang trying to find a way to stop Noreela from being destroyed. The problem the book seems to have to me is that the other characters other than Kosar just aren't interesting. Trey I could care less about, Alishia is unconcious the entire novel basically, and Hope is just annoying and stupid. I hated her in Dusk and still hate her now. The Mages continue their invasion of Noreela, but I just don't feel that Lebbon made them as terrifying as they were implied to be in Dusk. They seemed rather pedestrian for some people that were supposed to bring about the end of the world. I was expecting some cold-blooded killers, when in reality they were just dull to me. The Shanti were interesting enough I guess, although they really don't get used properly until the last half of the book. The most interesting part other than Kosar is the Red Monk Lucien that accompanies him to New Shanti. I love the fact that Lebbon doesn't really say what they are, but drops hints as to what they COULD be without ever really confirming it. It makes Lucien a much deeper character and his "change of heart" all the more interesting to read. I know there were a lot of complaints here but the book itself is not that bad. Its just that Dusk is so much more amazing to me, probably because of the opening scene to it alone.

Tim Lebbon still remains in my favorite category of writers. This is proof that he has an uncanny tallent for dark fantasy. Dawn is a great read. His fans will gather information from his mind and be drawn in to such a wondrous world that won't be able to tell fiction to reality. Dawn is one of my favorites in dark fantasy today! --Joseph McGee, author of In the Wake of the Night, Phil's Place, Darkness Won't Rest: Phils Place II and Snow Hill (forthcoming)

Everyone believes the land of Noreela is dead especially since the savior, former farm boy Rafe Baburn, was killed by the Mage with his body given to Angel. A second age of dark magic has begun to cast a shadow over the realm as Angel, the S'Hivez, and the Red Mages have avenged their stunning loss during the Cataclysmic War. There is no hope with the savior vanquished. His compatriots, who fought to keep him safe, feel the devastating impact of gloom, doom, and disappointment even more deeply than the commoners. Hope the witch, Alishia of the books, Kosar the thief and Trey of the enigmatic yellow eyes know they failed on their quest. Yet Alishia believes they still have a chance to insure the ancient prophecy of rebirth by an unborn can happen. She demands they not quit, but valiantly continue the mission as she feels she contains an essence of Rafe that might prove enough to begin a resurrection if they can make it to the city of Kang Kang. The Mages are on mop up duty to prevent their success. Though Alishia is a solid heroine, she lacks the freshness that Rafe brought to DUSK, as that tale was also a coming of age saga. She and her three comrades make DAWN an exhilarating action-packed horror fantasy though the enemy also lacks that signature villain such as the initial Red Mage who massacred the villagers of Trengborne in DUSK. Still this is top-quality tale that provides a staying alive adventure that makes it much more than a middle filler thriller as DAWN can be read without the previous story though reading DUSK first enhances the understanding of how much the death of Rafe impacts his world and casts a gloomy spell on his teammates. Harriet Klausner